There are a number of ways to effectively remove old coatings of paint and varnish from walls, furniture or other surfaces where these materials are typically found. Some methods of removal include the use of power washers, heat guns or chemicals that soften and help eliminate the coatings. Despite these relatively recent innovations used by many handcraft design professionals and do-it-yourself craftsmen, many still prefer using traditional strippers and scrapers to perform these tasks.
Conventional pull-motion scrapers, which incorporate hardened steel and metallic edges, have been around for centuries, providing a traditional effective approach for removing paint and varnish from various flat surfaces, hardboard, wood and ferrous metal. Due to their sharpness, the blades of a scraper can efficiently remove many layers of paint or other materials, while leaving surfaces clean and ready for finishing. However, special care must usually be taken in order to avoid gouging or scoring of wood or other deformable surfaces. For heavier scraping on hard or metal surfaces, many use two-hand scrapers which provide additional leverage and stability.
A pull scraper incorporating a four-way blade, formed with two spoon shaped blades for fine scraping and two flat folded edges for rough scraping is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,087 to Gringer. Other forms of scrapers by Gringer are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,732,395, D 479,375, D 479,374 and 4,558,517.
On the other hand, push scrapers, commonly known as strippers, typically incorporate a single chisel-edged blade. The blade is not particularly sharp, which helps prevent users from gouging wood or other deformable surfaces. Generally, strippers are used to remove loose and peeling paint while continuing over layers that are still securely bonded to a surface.
Many scrapers and strippers sold on market are known to incorporate threaded cavities in the handle portion of the respective tools for purposes of receiving a correspondingly threaded extension pole or other extension means. A pole or similar extension device in combination with individual hollow-handled scrapers and strippers have allowed users to scrape and strip high walls without the use of a ladder or step stool and without having to constantly adjust their location along a wall. Similarly, with an extension pole, these devices can also be used to scrape and strip floors without users having to rest on their knees.
Despite the advancements with respect to manual scrapers and strippers, these tools suffer from at least one major drawback, namely that users must use separate scrapers and strippers to perform these related chores. In particular, after users scrape a given surface area, there is often loose paint or other coatings which must likewise be manually removed. Under such circumstances, users must then take the more delicately acting stripping device in hand in order to remove what remnants of paint or coating are left on the surface. When using an extension device, this course of events is particularly frustrating since users must unscrew and transfer the extension device from the scraper to the stripper and then back again in the event that additional scraping needs to be done.